Association to Preserve Cape Cod moves to Dennis

DENNIS — After operating out of makeshift quarters for almost 50 years, the Association to Preserve Cape Cod has found a new home in a 130-year-old house and antique barn on Route 6A.

Since its founding in 1968, the association has been headquartered at various times in rented spaces in Eastham, Orleans and Barnstable.

“It seemed like the space we rented was always on the second floor,” said Executive Director Ed DeWitt.

Video: APCC finds a new home

The down payment on the $570,000 1.4-acre property near the Cape Abilities Farm was covered by a grant, and the rest will be paid through a long-term mortgage.

The nonprofit environmental group averages about $600,000 annually in revenue and expenses and holds $1.1 million in assets, according to its state filings.

As the organization settles into its new home, native plantings will replace the existing lawn. A rain garden, already in the works, will manage storm water runoff on one corner of the house while barrels will collect rainwater from other downspouts for re-use, perhaps to hydrate some planned raised vegetable beds.

Video: APCC plans for new location

Solar panels on the barn, which will be used for education programs, will collect enough energy to power the entire operation with some to spare.

“We’re going to be able to show by example what we’ve talked about for a long time,” DeWitt said.

Kristin Andres, the new director of education and outreach for the association, is currently overseeing the transformation of the yard.

“We look at the outside as a living laboratory,” Andres said. “Our first project will be the rain garden. We plan to excavate the area plantings and replace them with native plants that can tolerate being inundated with water as well as being dry.”

“One of the things is having our yards be part of the ecology of Cape Cod, with plantings as opposed to lawns,” Andres said. “The concept is to remove much of the lawn, restore a forest edge and use low ground covers. It will transition from open area to natural habitat, and we won’t have to mow the lawn.”

DeWitt has plans for the barn, which will accommodate up to 40 people. The roof currently points east, not the proper direction for a solar array, so the executive director hopes to simply “spin” the building when it is hoisted up for foundation improvements.

Because of the property’s location in a historic district, exterior changes to the buildings must be done carefully.

“We’ve already talked to the Old King’s Highway Historic District, and they seemed supporting,” DeWitt said. “Their biggest concern is how the barn looks from Route 6A, and it’s set back.”

Dennis officials have welcomed the nonprofit organization.

“There is nothing more important to the economic vitality of Cape Cod, not to mention the quality of life of our permanent, seasonal and visiting citizens, than insuring the Cape Cod way of life is preserved and enhanced,” Dennis Town Administrator Richard White wrote in an email. “The Association’s environmental advocacy, education efforts and rehabilitation work is second to none.”

The house on Route 6A has had to meet commercial code for loading, so it was opened up from the ground to the attic to put in stronger supports. To make the building handicapped accessible the bathroom was widened, a wheelchair ramp was installed, and special parking was created out front.

Like any new homeowner, the association has found some surprises along the way.

“It was ‘peek and shriek,’” DeWitt said with a laugh. “Once we peeked, we shrieked.”

The goal is to have all the improvements completed on the property by 2018 for the organization's 50th anniversary celebration.

For now, DeWitt would simply like to see the sign out front in place.

“We have a board member that drives by the property three times before he sees it,” he said.